Blogs vs. Wikis

     There was once a time when AOL (American Online) was the best way to communicate with one another besides the telephone. Whether it was going to the movies, out to lunch, a business meeting or just saying hi to a few family and friends, it's safe to say we've come a long way rather quickly when compared to technology today. Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Facebook, Skype, blogs and wikis just to name a few, in my opinion has given the meek and shy a voice in todays' networked world. The problem I have, however, is that most of these technologies are so closely related, it gets difficult to distinguish the difference between them, especially, blogs and wikis. Does anyone know the difference? what is it's general purpose? if you've scratched your head asking these same questions (I sure did) then keep reading and I'll break it down for you.
     To start here is an idea of what a wiki page looks like: http://docs.webob.org/en/latest/wiki-example.html, now look at this page carefully and you'll see an example of you guessed it's a blog. To the naked eye you'll notice just a few differences, pretty colors, cool backgrounds to say the least but everybody knows the saying "don't judge a book by it's cover."
     Both blogs and wikis are similar in that both are information-sharing sites. The acts of updating a blog (adding an entry) is called "blogging;" someone who writes a blog is a "blogger" (Gill, 2004) who usually updates the information in which only the blogger can edit. NO ONE else can edit the blogger's work. Sure, other bloggers can make comparison posts linking to yours (I do it all the time), but the author still retains complete control over the content, and ultimately, over the message. Think of it as online journals/diaries maintained by you or a team with regular updates (called as blog spots). They are typically meant for general consumption and are arranged in a chronological manner with the most recent blog posts on the top. Blog posts can also have the provision for readers to leave comments, thus, are usually more informal and chatty.
     Wikis, however, named after wiki-wiki, the Hawaiian word for quick, are essentially web pages that anyone -- or at least anyone with permission -- can create or edit (Goodnoe, 2005). Wikis are usually more about facts and multiple perspectives, while blogs are usually personal writing and from one perspective. Wikis in it's simplest form, can be imagined as a repository of easily editable website pages. Each wiki can have a specific purpose and a bunch of wiki pages that are maintained by the users of that wiki. Wiki pages typically have comments that can be used for collaborating around that page/topic. It can be used for a variety of purposes like documentation, knowledge management or just a team repository of information. Wikis are referred to in a more business friendly manner as "Projects". Projects can have specific permissions associated with them so access can be given in am more controlled fashion. Projects can have any number of wiki pages that can be arranged in a hierarchical fashion to give the wiki some structure. With a wiki, you don't have full control over the content, and attempting to keep control will lead to "last one to edit wins" types of battles. A wiki is most useful when you want to create a community-accessible site, where constructive criticism is encouraged.
     In simpler terms, a blog is far more useful for getting your specific message out, without changes being made by someone else. There's another very large difference as well. A wiki is much more like a "traditional" website than a blog is. once a page is created on wiki, it's just there (unless it's deleted, just as with any other site). A blog is much more temporary. Typically, the main blog page will show the last N items or the last N days worth of items. Sure, everything is accessible via the archives or via search - but it's not just there. The top page of a wiki, with the items it points to, is a (relative) constant. In contrast, the top page of a blog changes with every posting. Thus, a wiki is better for information that needs to be sticky "sticky." A blog is much more akin to the morning newspaper - fresh, but changing.
     Back to the matter at hand, you may ask yourself under which circumstances do you want a wiki, and under which do you want a blog? If you want to encourage input from a community, a wiki is a good tool for that, however, you need to be aware of the limitations. Most people are uncomfortable writing html, and any people will be uncomfortable using wiki markup (most wikis support a simplified markup scheme). If you want to get a personal voice "out there" talking about your products and services, blogs are the way to go. A caveat here though - blog is only useful if the author(s) post regularly on topics of interest to the target audience. It's very easy to start a blog - it's much more difficult to sustain one.
     In conclusion, you are going to want to use wikis for some situations and blogs for others. Either way, commitment is very important. Blogs need regular postings while wikis need maintenance and pruning. If you plan to you use either or both, you need to walk into the venture knowing full well that a decent amount of time commitment is necessary. I just got an idea! What if hospitals used wikis to summarize a patients visit over a time period that updates with each doctor visit. It would be a new way of seeing a patients record for physicians without the limitations. Life made easier. Deuces.

References
Common Craft (2007, November 29) Blogs in Plain English. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI/

Kathy E. Gill (2004, May) How Can We Measure the Influence of the Blogosphere?. Retrieved from http://faculty.washington.edu/kegill/pub/www2004_blogosphere_gill.pdf/

Information Week by Ezra Goodnoe (2005, August 5) How to Use Wiki for Business. Retrieved from
http://www.informationweek.com/how-to-use-wikis-for-business/167600331